


Stonewall

by aquaquartz



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Angst, F/F, F/M, POV Lapis Lazuli (Steven Universe), Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-09
Updated: 2018-10-16
Packaged: 2019-07-28 12:09:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,765
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16241330
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aquaquartz/pseuds/aquaquartz
Summary: stone·wallˈstōnˌwôl/verbdelay or block (a request, process, or person) by refusing to answer questions or by giving evasive replies.or the fic where Lapis's whole life is a lie, her brother Steven is missing, and Peridot gets in her wayUpdates every Wednesday





	1. One Year Ago

**Author's Note:**

> I am so excited to start this fic. I've had this concept laying around since 2014, and decided to add Steven Universe to the mix.  
> Hope you like it! This is just the introduction, hopefully I can post once a week once I get to writing.  
> I will be posting chapters on Wednesdays, if everything goes well. You can follow me on tumblr at aquaquartz. Its my sideblog for this fiction. My main is purpleiolite, if you wanna follow that too!
> 
> Happy reading!

"How many of them?" I asked again.

"Only three." He said quietly.

"You're lying." I looked into his eyes and watched the white specks swim around. He was tired.

"I am not."

"Then how come there were four bodies?"

"I already told you, the last one shot herself!" The specks turned red. I stepped back.

I groned and rubbed my eyes. "There wasn't a gun at the scene." I paced the length of the small, gray room. The air was hazy, almost disorienting. It made it seem like this situation wasn't real, that I was dreaming. I wish I was dreaming.

I walk back to the table my little brother is sitting at. "Steven, just tell me the truth. Don't make this worse than it already is." I looked at him again.

The specks turned blue. He was sad.

"I'm sorry. We failed. They said two, we killed three. But Lapis, I'm serious about the last one. We heard a bang and she was dead. That's it." The specks turned a lighter blue. I watched the tears form.

I sighed, walking around the table, putting my arms around his neck and hugging him. "It won't be too bad. The Diamonds can't punish you severely, you're only thirteen. You don't know any better. It was only your first assignment."

"Ms. Universe?" I let go of Steven and turned around to see a guard in the open doorway.

"Yes?"

"The Diamonds would like to see your brother now. Please come with us Mr. Universe ." The guard, a Quartz, stared us down, her lips tight. The specks in her eyes were yellow. Apathy. Steven got up slowly, making his way to the door. The Quartz turned around, walking out of the room.

"Steven!" I yelled after him. He turned around.

"I love you no matter what. Nothing bad will happen. I promise." I said softly, giving him a worried smile.

All he did was nod at me. The specks in his eyes were black. Fear.

The door shut behind him. Eventually, a different guard came and let me out of the room. She told me to go home and wait for Steven, he would be home in about two hours.

That was a year ago.

I'm still waiting.


	2. A Cry For Help

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lapis receives an unexpected letter.

The place was deserted now, where it all happened. The small, gray room that still felt like a bad dream was filled with green vegetation, the colors ironically looking harmonious next to each other. It’s a never ending cycle it seems, life and death.

The building was in ruins, accidently being a target of one of The Diamond’s “precautionary experiments” just a few months after Steven was taken away. The early morning sun was just now reaching the rubble, unearthing the vast damage that had been done.

Most people see it as an accident, a bomb that missed its target. I see a cover-up, they knew exactly what they were doing. I still have no answers to what happened that night, but we had to walk by this place every day to get to the Cluster, the employment place for the whole Beach City area. New thoughts and ideas, some joyful and some gruesome, always filled my head when we walked by the flattened building; What could Steven be doing? Was he even still alive?

I stopped in front of the dilapidated building, making my roomate run into me with an “oof!”

“I hate that building, I hate The Diamonds, I hate everything” I said under my breath, my teeth clenched as I looked across at the disassembled room.

My roommate grabbed my shirt, tugging on it like a small child would. “Lapis, for fucks sake stop saying you hate The Diamonds in public. They have spies ya know.” The smaller girl to my right, Amethyst, looked around cautiously, sighing in relief when she realized we were alone on the street.

I glared down at my friend, taking my shirt from her hands with a sharp pull. I started to walk away, leaving her behind me. She quickly caught up to me, somewhat winded. I chuckled as we continued walking by the abandoned building. She glanced over at me, letting me catch her eyes for a second before turning away. The specks in her eyes were grey. Irritation.

“Sorry.” I mumbled.

“Laz, I get it. I do. I miss him too. But c’mon, proclaiming your hatred for The Diamonds every five minutes won’t make Steven come back.”

I flinched at his name, looking back at her and giving her a once over before looking away. She grew stiff when she realized what she had done. The wound was still fresh. I decided to let it go, focusing on her looks instead. Her white shirt was torn at the sleeves and collar, her leggings had holes in the knees. Her freshly dyed lilac hair was up in a loose bun, wisps of hair framing her face. The hair color went well with her dark skin, a topic we argued about for a week before she went ahead and dyed it.

“I don’t know how you get away with dressing like that. I mean seriously, our jobs are somewhat professional.” Amethyst visibly relaxed, letting out the breath she was holding. She laughed at my comment, stopping in her tracks and grabbing my arm, making me stop to look at her. The flecks in her eyes started to change colors.

“Lapis, I’m in the back of the building, where no one can see me, making weapons with Bismuth for wackjob soldiers who want to protect The Diamond Council because they were told to. Why the fuck would I need to look professional?” She pulled her hand back and started walking, laughing again. Amethyst turned around quickly, pointing at me “You on the other hand, Miss Hydrologist, have to look decent so you can meet with the big girls.” She teased with a wink, the flecks now a warm orange. Playful. I felt my face getting hot. The “big girls” were my bosses. Holly Blue Agate, president of The Cluster and first hand to The Diamonds, and her Quartz guard Jasper, who acted more like a vice-president than a guard. They were intimidating, and somewhat alluring, which didn’t help my hopeless lesbian side at all during meetings.

“I’m not dressed that nice.” I pointed to my outfit, a simple black pencil skirt that ended just below the knee, a tucked in blue blouse that looked nice with my tan skin, and pointed flats. “I don’t even have makeup on! It's just business casual.” I shrugged. Amethyst let out a low “mhm” with a smirk on her lips. With my face still hot, we started walking towards the huge building in the distance.

“Some days I just want to tell Holly that we are running out of water in the Beach City area and see what she does.” I say as I follow after Amethyst. “She’d probably not believe me, since we live next to the ocean, and I would have to explain to her, again, that the salinity is too high in the ocean to be drinkable to humans and it is too expensive and a waste of energy to make it drinkable.”

“You lost me salt-nity.”

I sighed. “Salinity, Amethyst. The amount of all dissolved salts in water.”

“Oh. Don’t care.”

“Do you ever?”

“Nope.”

We continued walking in a comfortable silence, only stopping in front of the doors of the Cluster. Amethyst turned towards me with a grin and a salute. “Well, Miss Lapis Lazuli Universe, this is where we part for the day. I will see you when I see you.” She starts to fake cry as I cross my arms, rolling my eyes. She looks up at me, a quivering frown on her face. The specks in Amethyst eyes were pink. Cheerful, despite her demeanor.

Only Amethyst knows about my “special power”, if you want to call it that. I see specks in people’s eyes, and the color they turn is what they are feeling. I’ve always been able to see them, and it helps me adapt what I am going to say and do because I can figure out a person’s real mood. They can lie to me all they want, but I know what they are really feeling.

“You do this every fucking day. I’m out.” I flipped her off as I walked inside, her laughter filling the space behind me as the door closed.

I walked slowly through the lobby, giving a slight nod to Sadie, the front door secretary and Lars, the security guard. I make my way down the hall, heading to my office quickly and quietly. I close the door as soon as I step in, flicking on the lights and heading to my desk.

I only still have this job because I have to. There is no quitting. Quitting means exile, getting fired means death. No win-win here with the Diamonds. When the world pretty much fell apart twenty years ago, the Diamonds took over. White, their leader, Yellow, the war goddess and her wife Blue, the peacekeeper. Blue and Yellow’s daughter, Pink, is being trained currently to replace White, but she has a temper. But I mean, she _is_ a teenager. She’s five years younger than me and has unlimited power. Kind of scary if you ask me.

We take a test at sixteen and whatever we succeed in we get groomed to do. The test is taken over four days with a combined thirty-two hours of nonstop questions and activities to test our skills. I was stellar in the science categories so here I am, seven years later and I am the Water Witch of Beach City, a name given to me by my friends. Amethyst succeeded in metal work, which made her stand out. She is a Quartz afterall, she is supposed to be a guard. But instead, she makes the weapons for The Diamond’s army with Bismuth, another friend in our tight circle. Our friend Pearl excelled in management and maternal extinct, so she directs the school and testing center. Garnet, another good friend, surpassed everyone in the physical testing, so she trains all the new soldiers. We all fit our jobs a little too well, which can make this structured life boring, but it's always fun to swap stories.

I sit down, turning on my computer and fixing the paperwork that Holly had left a mess on my desk the day before. I pick up the paper and move it to the right of my desk, setting it down before noticing whatever was on the bottom had fallen onto the floor.

I lean over and pick up a small envelope, the words “Lapis” scrawled in big handwriting on the front. I quirk an eyebrow, opening the envelope.

I pull out the single piece of paper inside, a picture falling to my lap. My eyes grew wide as I read what was written on the paper. My heart started to pound and my hands became clammy as I read a single sentence over and over again in familiar handwriting;

**“I’m alive. Please help.”**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This post is a day early oh well. Didn't think I would get this out so fast honestly
> 
> A hydrologist (Lapis) is someone that studies everything about water, including its properties, distribution and movement through the atmosphere. Basically, she is in charge of making sure there’s enough water to support all life in Beach City for a long time since it is a controlled colony.  
> I’m a biology major so making Lapis a water geek was a given must.  
> The chapters will noticeably get longer as more information and plot is needed. I hope this chapter wasn’t too overwhelming. It just came out like word vomit.  
> It will also (slowly) get more gay. So much more gay.


	3. A Surprise Meeting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lapis begins to question herself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A day early! Kind of.  
> Again, short and sweet to start off with. If I didn't stop myself, I would write the whole thing in one day and make one long chapter.  
> My tumblr is purpleiolite, my tumblr for this fanfiction is aquaquartz.  
> Kudos and comments are always very welcome!
> 
> Happy reading!

I didn’t know I was yelling “oh no” over and over again until Lars came crashing into my office.

“Ms. Universe? What’s going on? Why are you yelling?” He looked around frantically before looking at me, the specks in his eyes bright red. Panic. I stared at him, trying to find some words to say.

I dropped the paper into my lap, covering it and the picture with both of my hands. I coughed before saying, “Oh! Lars. I-I, um, saw a spider.”

_Good one Lapis._

He eyed me up and down, standing up straight and putting his hands in his pockets. “And where is said spider?” Lars said, looking around again and moving to the front of my desk. He looked at me again, his eyes now a light green. Uncertain. He didn’t believe me.

“Uh, well, it was over there.” I pointed at the wall to my left, my mind racing, “but then I started screaming because this thing was huge, I mean massive, and I guess I lost sight of it when I started screaming and…”

“Ms. Universe? Are you okay?” Lars interrupted my rambling, my face feeling flush. I lost my words again, panic working its way into my mind.

“Well yes, I am fine. I was just, surprised, ya know?” I said a little too quickly, looking away from him. “Will you just uh, tell Sadie to call Amethyst into my office? Please? I need to speak with her. Urgently.” I turned back to him, forcing a smile.

Lars looked at me funny, his specks still the same color. “Uh, yeah sure. But just so you know, Holly and Jasper were talking about a meeting with you this afternoon. They had a soldier with them, now she had a cold personality. Had some high tech gadgets on her. I don’t recall her name though? Started with a P? Another stone name, no doubt.”

“Oh, well thank you Lars! That will be all. Sorry I caused you panic.” I blurted out, my eyes not moving from my lap. I heard him sigh and listened as his footsteps walked from my desk to the door.

“Let me know if the spider comes back.” He said before walking out and shutting my door.

I looked around my office, the spacious room seeming to close in on me. I had only been “promoted” a year ago, and I still did not know how to fill the room. There was a wall full of windows to my right that let in too much sunlight for my liking, my small desk, my chair, and the two chairs in front. It seemed bare but hey, I like simple.

My eyes made my way back to my lap. The picture that had come with the envelope had flipped over, a picture of Steven staring back at me. He looked, alright? The picture was a little blurry, but I could see his face. He was wearing his soldier uniform, nothing looked out of the ordinary. He was even smiling. I turned my desk lamp on, deciding to get a closer look at his eyes. The specks were yellow. I made a face.

“Yellow? Content? He’s feeling _content_? How the hell is he feeling okay?”

“Who is?”

I didn’t realize I had said that sentence out-loud until I received a response. I looked up, grateful to just find only Amethyst in the doorway. She had dirt on her face and hands, her top now being a light grey instead of its original white. I rolled my eyes, biting my tongue.

“Come in and close the door.” I told her, my voice now soft. Amethyst did as she was told before moving to sit at one of the chairs in front of my desk.

“Steven, is okay? I guess?” I passed her the items that were in my lap, my eyes moving from her to the door before going back to her.

She read the note first, gasping as she noticed the picture.

“Wait, Steve-o is fine? He’s okay?” she asked me, not looking away from his picture. “Is that what his eyes say?” She looked up at me.

“His eyes say that he’s… content.” I answered.

“Then what about this note? That’s his handwriting, right?” She held up the note, her eyes started to fill with tears.

“I-I’m not sure. I’m as confused as you are. He usually is not good at about hiding his feelings like that. I can always tell what mood he really is in, he could never hide it from me…” I trail off, looking away from Amethyst.

“Lapis, you don’t think…” Amethyst put down the note and photo, grabbing my hands from across the desk, making me look back at her. “Are you sure you’re the only person who sees specks? You are adopted, maybe…”

“Don’t be ridiculous Amethyst of course I am the only person.” I said a little harsh, cutting her off. She grimaced at my outburst.. “Greg and Rose said my biological mom died when the world practically fell apart, why would they lie to me?” I got up, taking my hands from hers and walking to the wall of windows, looking out on the boardwalk. “They wouldn’t lie to me, right?” I asked, more to myself.

“Look, Laz, I am just saying. Why would he need to hide his emotions if you are the only person able to see them? It's just, odd to me that's all.”

I turned around, opening my mouth to respond to her when there was a knock at the door. Amethyst and I locked eyes, her specks turning to a soft red.

I let out a broken “come in!” Amethyst started to giggle, causing me to walk over to her and slap her arm.

“Oh, Lapis Lazuli Universe, my favorite scientist, how are you tod-.” Holly Blue Agate started as she walked in before she noticed Amethyst. Her perfectly made-up face turned into an ugly scowl. “Oh, hello Amethyst. Why are you here, may I ask?” The warm tone she had greeting me had now turned cold.

Amethyst stared at Holly before looking at me, panic in her eyes. “Well, you see, Lapis-”.

“She was updating me on the plans for the new hydro-cannon that Blue Diamond has been wanting to build. I know all about the turbulence of the water needed for the cannon to work, ya know? Amethyst just wanted to make sure Bismuth’s calculations were correct. We wouldn’t want to upset our Diamond now would we?” I said a little too smooth and sweet, giving a bright smile to Amethyst. I moved from beside her to the front of my desk, keeping my back to the desk as I put my hands behind me and picked up the note and picture.

“You may go now, we can continue our discussion later.” I glanced at Amethyst, a pleading look in my eyes as I smiled, before returning my eyes to Holly, the smile still present.

Holly looked at us, the specks in her eyes turning from grey to beige. Indifferent. She had moved farther into my office now, Jasper and another person following close behind.

“Yes right, see you later Lazuli.” She got up quickly, knocking her chair over. My mouth went in a line, trying not to laugh as she picked it up and practically ran out the door.

While they were distracted with watching Amethyst, I had quickly moved back to my chair behind my desk, putting the secret note and picture in my drawer. “Now, why are you here Holly?” I asked, scooting my chair up to my desk.

She cleared her throat, her demeanor changing back to how she was when she first entered my office. You could read Holly like a book, I almost didn’t have to read her eyes. She liked me so she treated me accordingly. Amethyst? Well, she was an outcast from the Quartz family, so cue the bitchy tones and ugly faces.

“Ah yes, we have some business to attend to.” She sat in one of the chairs in front of me, her blue tailored suit just a shade of blue darker than her hair, her eye specks a lovely green, she had something to tell me. She waved to her posse behind her. “You remember Jasper, correct?”

“Yes Holly, shes with you every time we meet, which has been a lot over the past year.” I sat back in my chair, crossing my arms, my eyes only meeting Jasper’s for a second as she stared at me. Purple. Lust. I shivered in my seat. She was an older sister? Cousin? I’m not sure how she’s related to Amethyst, but all Quartz are related one way or another. Its like they are bred to be warriors. Jasper is taller than Holly, even when Holly is wearing her high-heel shoes, like she was today. With long, white hair down her back, a tone body in her own personalized soldier outfit (“to fit all the right curves” she had said while winking at me once) and a resting bitch face, Jasper was terrifying. She also had this tiger stripe birthmark that covered most parts of her skin, giving her a tiger-like look. She always looked like she wanted to eat me anyway, might as well compare her to a carnivore.

“And this is Peridot. She’s the technology captain for Yellow’s army. Very smart girl, top of her class in well, almost everything!” Holly exclaimed, waving at the other girl to Jasper’s side.

Peridot was about a foot shorter than Jasper, her green soldier uniform matching the shade of her glasses. I wonder if she did that on purpose? Her hair blonde and short, it stuck out kind of crazy out from underneath the soldier hat she was wearing. My eyes met hers, and I noticed she was studying me too. Her eyes were a bright green and hard. I couldn’t read them for shit.

I looked away from her, my face feeling hot. My gaze returned to Holly, but she was busy telling Jasper something. I felt the new girl’s gaze on me, and I tried to not look at her again. Was I nervous? Why was I nervous?

She’s just a _girl,_ Lapis.

I closed my eyes, trying to remember what color of specks I saw, but all I saw was green. " _Lapis, can we **not** be gay for a few fucking moments?_ " I thought in my mind as I opened my eyes. Holly and Jasper were now bickering in front of me. I looked back at Peridot, her eyes now on the arguing pair. She was leaning against the wall, a bored expression on her face as she watched them go at it. I used the distraction to my advantage, scanning her eyes to find something I was afraid I wouldn’t be finding.

Her eyes suddenly met mine, now aware of my staring. I felt my face get hot again. I couldn’t hear Jasper and Holly anymore, even though they had gotten significantly louder. It was as if the world had stopped.

And no, it wasn't because her eyes were pretty and I could probably get lost in them if I wanted to; it was because of what was missing from them.

I felt my heartbeat in my throat as I struggled to come to terms with what I was realizing.

Peridot didn’t have any specks.


End file.
